Video cameras for surveillance are widely used in commercial, industrial, office and other environments to provide live and recorded monitoring to provide security and operational information. These cameras, if indoors, are typically mounted permanently on a wall or ceiling. Permanent mounting is a disadvantage for environments that change frequently, such as retail, museums, and modular offices.
One prior art solution is to mount video surveillance cameras on overhead lighting tracks. While this solves the mechanical mounting problem—by using a tool-less, easily moved mount—it does not solve the cabling problem. Traditionally, video surveillance cameras require input power through one cable and provide output video via another cable. Internet Protocol (IP) cameras reduce the number of cables to one, by providing power on dedicated wires within the CAT5 or CAT6 multi-conductor cable. However, prior art track-mount surveillance cameras still require at least one cable, which severely limits the mobility of the camera. In addition, this at least one cable requires a hole in the wall or ceiling. When the camera is removed, either an unsightly hole remains, or must be repaired.